Staccato
by L'Angleterre
Summary: Arthur Kirkland liked routine, but perhaps the day that broke all semblance of pattern deserved a slightly different outcome. Human!USUK AU drabble, based during the same time as 'Clockwork' but can be read alone.


Arthur Kirkland's life had never been easy, but he loved a challenge. Taking care of Peter, for example. His sixteen year old brother never ceased to drive him up the wall, but it'd been just the pair of them since he was eighteen, and Petey was four. The boy had endured through many a shit meal to please his older brother. Arthur pondered on this as he yanked his bedsheets out of the washing machine. At that particular moment, it was six in the morning, and he was barely functioning, while Peter was bouncing off the walls waiting for Alfred to pick him up for his work experience. The teen was hoping to go into a career in medicine, which brought great pride and horror to Arthur, in roughly equal measures.

With the sheets hanging from the line in their inherited family house's garden, Arthur moved on to putting his suit on for work. He'd just done up the last button of his waistcoat when he heard Peter yelling that Alfred was there.

"Bloody hell Pete," he grumbled, smoothing his hair down as he made his way down the stairs. "Lunch money," he said, handing his brother his debit card. Peter may have been a pain in his arse, but at least he knew the brat wouldn't intentionally drive them to bankruptcy.

"Thanks Artie," he replied with a toothy grin. "When are you going on that date with Al?" The younger boy laughed as Arthur took a swing at his head - missing, of course - and dashed out of the door. His relationship (or lack thereof) with the junior doctor was a constant source of entertainment for Peter. The inside joke had even spread to Lukas, the registrar, who just happened to be dating Mathias, the history teacher at the school Arthur taught at. Disaster.

With Peter and Alfred out of his way, he made up a flask of tea and was out of the house by half seven. It was a twenty minute walk into the city, and a brutal one in the winter.

Arthur appreciated when his days followed a nice, orderly pattern, but it just so happened that today wasn't an orderly sort of day.

First, the lid on his flask wasn't on properly. Thankfully, this only led to disaster for Doctor Gilbert Beilschmidt, who had tried to drink it while Arthur was hanging his coat up. With an amused snort, and howling laughter from Mathias, Arthur set his flask in the sink. Gilbert was whimpering, holding his spare lab coat over his slightly burnt crotch.

"At least you've learnt your lesson," said Arthur. He was both smug and relieved, because that definitely could've been him.

 **We're here k have a good day Artie! :D**

Read 8:03

Arthur couldn't help but smile at the text, which wasn't missed by Gilbert and Mathias, who immediately leapt.

"Messaging your toyboy?" Mat teased, trying to glimpse his phone.

"Come on Artie, show us his nudes," laughed Gil, who finally snatched the phone from the Brit's grip. He handed it over to Mat straight away - Arthur was only a little shorter than Gil, and a swift kick to the balls would have him doubled over. Mat loomed over them both at a terrifying six foot four.

"What should we message back Gil?" Mat crowed, standing on his toes to keep the phone out of reach. Arthur protested and was about to punch Mat when a cough interrupted their dispute. Gilbert hopped down from the kitchen counter, and Mat slid the phone into his pocket.

"Ready for your first classes?" Mogens, the deputy head, said, folding his arms.

"Yes Sir," the trio chorused in response. They watched his gaze sharpen, before he turned away to his office.

"I'm only thirty," Arthur protested weakly. "Not _that_ old." Mat gave him a sympathetic pat on the arm and they went their different ways to form. Arthur's class were in their fourth year at the school, and the class of fifteen year olds were also far too invested in his love life. He only thanked his lucky stars that he didn't have Peter in his form group.

The entire day passed in relative peace, and it wasn't until their usual trio had congregated in the staff room - at least, Gilbert was present - that anything of interest happened. Once again, it was the albino chemistry teacher that caused a stir, mostly by running in with his white lab coat falling apart. After breaking down into hysterics, Mathias checked his phone, swore, then ran out. Arthur could only smirk, because the other blonde was late to a Humanities Department meeting. Lunch was otherwise uneventful, and mostly consisted of wandering in and out to answer students complaints or queries about the work.

In the mean time, Peter was bouncing off the walls still, although this time he was in the Team Room, harassing one Dr Køhler-Bondevik, whose patience was wearing thin. He was eventually kicked out, and told to observe Dr Braginski's clinic. The Russian man was about double his height, and many more times terrifying. The clinic passed in a concerned silence, occasionally broken by Dr Braginski asking him how school was going, only to be met by a quiet laugh. Or perhaps cry.

Peter dashed out of the clinic as soon as he (politely) could. Feli, one of the nurses, almost asked if he was alright, before realising which direction he had come from. Peter found himself back under Alfred's supervision, but was mostly watching him type up reports, which was _dull_.

"Do you like Arthur?" he asked. Dr Jones almost spat his coffee out, but managed to regain composure.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool," the American offered up with a grin, eyes flitting back to the report of one Aldrich Egerton - a most unfortunate name.

"You know I don't mean that. Pretty sure he'd sleep with you though, if you wanted." Alfred did choke on his drink that time, and settled his forehead on the desk once he'd recovered. How on earth did Arthur cope with this child?

Arthur was unlocking the front door as Alfred pulled up. Peter hopped out the passenger seat and, to Arthur's surprise, Alfred got out of the car too. The evil grin on his little brother's face was not encouraging, and Arthur had to bite back the age old comment of 'what did he do now?'.

"Hey, uh, Artie," he began, utterly failing to articulate whatever it was that he wanted to say. "Wannagetcoffeewithmeplease?" It took a moment to piece together what he had blurted out, but both had gone very red.

"Er, sure," Arthur replied, twisting his key ring in his hand. "Coffee sounds wonderful."

It was then that Peter decided to slip inside. After all, his work here was done, and Dr K-B now owed him a tenner.

~Linebreak~

AN: I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought, and whether you'd like me to continue this.


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